Tokers behind the wheel are now a “major contributor” to fatal road accidents, says a Department of Public Safety report..Blacklock's Reporter says police data shows charges for drug-impaired driving jumped 43% since the legalization of cannabis..“Drug-impaired driving is a major contributor to fatal road crashes and young people continue to be the largest group of drivers who die in crashes and test positive for drugs,” said a department report..Many marijuana users surveyed said they did not consider themselves unfit to drive..“Among those who have operated a vehicle while under the influence of cannabis most said they did not recognize their behaviour as risky with two in five, 39%, reporting they did not feel impaired and one in five, 23%, believing they could still drive carefully,” wrote researchers..More than a quarter of cannabis users, 26%, said they “operated a vehicle while under the influence.” A majority of all people surveyed, 56%, “perceive the rate of driving while under the influence of cannabis has increased since legalization,” said the report..Almost all Canadians surveyed knew drug-impaired driving was illegal. Parliament in repealing a 95-year ban on recreational cannabis passed a companion bill, C-46 An Act To Amend The Criminal Code, permitting random roadside testing of marijuana users..The public safety department paid Ekos Research Associates $81,138 for the study. Findings were based on questionnaires with 2,193 people nationwide..Drug-impaired driving charges increased 43% with legalization, Statistics Canada disclosed last July 15 in a report.. Analysts counted 6,453 incidents nationwide in 2019, the first full year of legalization, “a 43% increase over 2018.” There were 3,038 drug-impaired driving charges prior in 2016 prior to legalization..Unlike drinking and driving charges that peak in twilight hours “the rate of drug-impaired driving varies little from one time of day to another,” said the report..Bill C-46 set a legal roadside limit on blood cannabis concentrations of five-billionths of a gram, the equivalent of a single joint.
